PORTLAND -- City officials began letting neighbors into their homes damaged by a sliding house in Southwest Portland.

Development Bureau Director Paul Scarlett and his team filed an emergency declaration for the zone Thursday night.

The home on SW Burlingame Place slid more than 300 feet down the hillside, crashing into another house below on Terwilliger Boulevard and damaging two other homes on Wednesday, Oct. 9.

“I empathize with these people. I told my boss that we need to help these people.” Scarlett said.

City workers drilled late into the evening, testing the soil to make some type of determination of what caused it before the heavy fall and winter rains set in. They will continue to work with neighbors’ insurance companies and representatives on recovery efforts.

Shan Hemphill’s home narrowly escaped the landslide earlier this month. 

“I’m mad at the insurance companies” Said Hemphill.  “They have done nothing for us.  I am staying with neighbors; other families are forced to stay in hotels, but who’s going to pay for this. I’m very happy with the city.  Look who’s out here … it’s the city of Portland.” Hemphill said.

Just a days before the slide a Southwest Portland neighborhood association sent out flyers reminding residents of an upcoming educational forum -- on the dangers of landslides.

Had the landslide not occurred perhaps 20 to 50 people may have attended. But instead, more than 150 concerned neighbors showed up to the Thursday night meeting.

Dr. Scott Burns, the head geologist at Portland State University, came to answer the community’s questions.

"When we go out to a particular site we always want to ask the question, has a landslide occurred there in the past?" Burns said.

Hillside residents packed Ainsworth Elementary School, asking questions like, “How do you know if you’re going to be next?”

Heather Schrag lives on the hillside. She brought up concerns about neighbors performing remodels without first researching landslide history in the area.

"When you take into consideration what people are doing with the remodels and changing the integrity of their landscaping it's definitely a recipe for potential disaster,” she said. “That's why I want to start paying attention to who's around me."

Schrag moved into her home just a month ago.

Seven homes are still considered off-limits by the city of Portland due to the house slide. Seven families remain effectively homeless.

"I'm excited that there's a dialog going on so quickly after this event,” Schrag said. “This has been just over a week now."

Perhaps no one knows Portland’s landslide history better than Dr. Burns.

"If it's moved once it has a high potential for moving again," he says.

Burns used an old landslide near the zoo to simplify the risk factors facing hillside residents. He said there are essentially “three strikes” facing neighborhoods with slide probability.

"Strike one is the steepness of the slope. Strike two is going to be the geology that is underneath you … and all you need is that third strike, that's water. You add water to the thing and three strikes, you're out," Burns said.

The geologist cited water control as a contributing factor in at least 10 percent of the slides examined after the disastrous 1996 floods.

Rain runoff from the floods turned hillsides around the Portland metro area from soil to mud that year.

But last week, Burns believes a leaking pipe caused the catastrophe.

While residents here cannot control Nature or rains they can control their property. This meeting may have provided an essential first step forward for many.

As the winter’s rainy season approaches, many here are left wondering how much earth will move this year.

Burns suggested that southwest hillside residents make sure storm drains and pipes were functioning properly.

He also recommended residents plant trees and other vegetation that naturally pull water from the ground year round, when possible, saying they can serve as constant pumps to absorb water from soil.

(KGW Reporters Scott Burton and Anne Yeager contributed to this story)